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Geography
Bio Divercities by 2030
Geography
Bio Divercities by 2030
Important Points to Consider
• Cities are the engine of the global economy – contributing 80% of the world’s GDP – but their exponential growth in recent decades has come at the expense of nature.
• The built environment has grown by two-thirds in the first 12 years of the 21st century, leading to the degradation of local ecosystems and the loss of habitats. Urban areas are also responsible for over 75% of global carbon emissions, accelerating climate change which drives further nature loss.
• 44% of global GDP in cities ($31 trillion) is estimated to be at risk of disruption from nature loss, and more than 1.4 billion people living in the world’s largest urban centres are threatened by natural hazards.
BiodiverCities by 2030 initiative
• BiodiverCities by 2030 initiative is led jointly by the World Economic Forum and the Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute and championed by the Government of Colombia.
• The initiative aims to support city governments, businesses and citizens, to make choices that enable cities to live in harmony with nature by 2030.
What is the News?
• World Economic Forum (WEF) has released a report titled “BiodiverCities by 2030: Transforming cities’ relationship with nature” ——The report is a key output of the Biodiversity by 2030 initiative.
• This report provides a vision for cities of the future and the needed systemic shifts to develop BiodiverCities that place nature at the heart of decision-making and infrastructure investments.
Three shifts to enable cities to live in harmony with nature
• Firstly, cities must embrace a ‘systems approach’ to urban governance that considers the needs of all stakeholders, accounts for the value of natural ecosystems, and moves away from legacy models in which decisions are driven by cost efficiencies and ad hoc urban planning.
• This shift requires ownership by top levels of government, strong coordination and leadership at city level, and policy that fosters innovation and holds the private sector accountable for its impact on nature.
• Secondly, cities must reintegrate nature into their spatial planning decisions, and restore the ‘natural layer’ as the backbone of their development.
• This means preserving natural habitats within and around cities, renaturing degraded land (through, for example, community-based tree planting) and ‘growing smart’ by embedding nature in new or upgraded infrastructure, such as green corridors along high streets and green roofs on new buildings.
• Thirdly, action is needed to make nature an attractive investment to financial markets and drive private funding into cities’ natural capital.
• This includes adopting standardized biodiversity data to inform investment decisions and creating new markets and models to de risk private investments in nature
Quick Pointers for Prelims + Mains
• Prelims – BiodiverCities by 2030
• GS 1 – Urbanization + Smart Cities + Million Plus cities + Urban Flooding + BiodiverCities by 2030
• GS 2 – Urban Governance
• GS 3 – Environment Section
• GS 4 – Environmental Ethics
• Essays
